I actually shot this wedding on Valentine’s Day, 2010.  I was asked to second shoot for Jerry Ghionis, multi-award winning photographer from Melbourne, Australia, which was very exciting.  The wedding did not dissapoint.  We were there for a few days with some parties to shoot, as well as the wedding and, for Jerry, a pre wedding shoot at the Vatican!  The day I arrived I decided to go out for a meal by myself and found a cheeky little bistro … armed with my phrase book, I managed to learn a few phrases and fell in love with my waiter (he was about 85 and just adorable … he LOVED that I attempted Italian, no matter how rubbish !)

The wedding had everything from a dress by Oscar de la Renta (he actually made it himself and sent a dresser to make sure the dress was ok for the whole day), Jimmy Choos, diamonds to die for, Rome (enough said), cool people, amazing locations, a custom Cartier tank watch, ballerinas and a truly lovely couple.  For those of you on the ICE Society (Jerry’s educational site) please check out the videos and some of Jerry’s images from the wedding.  And some of mine too !

And so, a few of my personal faves from the wedding … please feel free to leave any comments … enjoy !

Rome, Italy wedding photographer

From time to time I get asked by other photographers if I fancy taking some photos of them, whether for their web / online profiles, for fun, for their wedding or, in this instance, to celebrate a milestone in their lives.

Sara turned the dreaded 40 late last year and wanted some record of that.  She wasn’t particularly enamoured by her own wedding photos and didn’t feel that she had any really nice photos of her and hubby, Craig.  So, game on.  Whilst I was already in London for the workshop it made sense to get them down there for a shoot in and around the sights.  I have a little route I like to take, as there are so many lovely spots in that area … we started off at St Pauls, moving on across the millenium bridge, stopping for lunch and then back to St Pauls when the sun came out !  I was able to take in some lovely flare, I miss that !

We had some fun with props I brought along, including a little chalk board where I asked them to write messages to each other (they didn’t know what they had written til they saw their photos, awwwww) and my Rolleicord TLR, fitting as I was shooting a fellow photographer.

And so, a few from the shoot … check out that 40’s styling with matching hair and shoes !!  Gorgeous !

London Portrait Photographer

Anyone who knows me well knows I am committed to and passionate about this industry.  What most people don’t know is that in a former life I was an IT trainer, something I loved doing.  So I thought it would be worth combining the two and offering workshops.  There are many options out there, but I realised in my research that something on speeding up workflow and getting organised to the point that you can either take on more work, or have a life, just wasn’t available.  I pride myself on my organisational skills (ok, some may call it obsessive compulsive haha) and I have spent the last few years really honing my post production skills, including my vintage look.

So, I pulled together a 2 day program, including a little bit of shooting.  The first workshop was held in Mayfair in London, at The Washington Mayfair, beautifully located around the corner from the Ritz.  My plan was to head to some of the sights around London, but alas, it did nothing but pour with rain … that said, what a perfect way to show how to cope with this eventuality at a real wedding !  I didn’t shoot as much as I thought, I honestly didn’t realise I could talk that much LOL … the models were amazing and looked great, were very patient while everyone got their chance to shoot a particular pose and everyone had a lot of fun.

I am planning another workshop in Stafford in a few months, dates to be confirmed, but if you are interested, drop me a line at gill@gilltaylor.co.uk.

Special thanks to Suzy and Tarv, my wedding couple, Chanelle and Craig, my portrait couple (both photographers as well) and to Sanjay who was my support rock for the 2 days !!  Thanks to everyone who attended who made it such a special first venture for me !!

And so, as always, a few from the shoot, including some behind the scenes shots, courtesy of Shan Fisher.

Thanks again to you all, I had a blast and can’t wait to do it all again !

I’ve been thinking for a while about having some more generic posts on my blog and I thought what might be super useful is to post some inspiration and ideas for brides to be!  Having shot so many weddings over 7 or so years, I have seen everything, from pretty little intimate weddings, to lavish affairs and everything in between.  I have seen muted colour schemes, loud colour schemes … pink, white, black, purple … James Bond themes to Vintage inspired themes … from designer gowns to quirky gowns, you name it, I’ve shot it.

So I’m going to run a series of inspirational posts, from budgeting to themes, to what’s hot this season and what works well when considering your colour scheme.

I hope you get a lot out of it, I’m excited to be delving back into the archives to pull out some truly inspirational wedding ideas !

Oh yeah, I almost forgot, I hope you all had a fantastic Valentine’s Day !  If you just got engaged, I look forward to hearing from you !!!

Gill x

I had a lot of Christmas weddings last year and Gemma and Oliver’s was one of those … right in the middle of all that snow !  I got a panicky little voicemail from Oliver when I was on route to the wedding, asking if I was going to make it.  The roads were fine, but man, the drive down into the venue was pure compacted snow, making for an interesting last leg of the journey !!  Thankfully the vast majority of their guests made it to the wedding, making for a fun day, filled with laughter, laboutins, carol singers, christmas trees galore, sweet treats, snow, ugg boots and more snow LOL

I’ve started off with a couple of snowy pics, including the fun one with the “frozen lake” in the background … never mind swimming in it, you could “walk” on it haha … Gemma and Oliver decided to see each other before the ceremony, for a little bit of quiet, private time before it all went mad … I love this idea, very different.

Gemma is probably one of the bravest brides I have ever had the pleasure to work with.  I asked her to put on her ugg boots so we could get some outdoors shots, no problem !  We were out and about in that snow and sub-zero (minus 15) conditions for an hour or so … thanks Gemma !

And so, a few favourites …

Venue:  Alrewas Hayes

Dress: Ian Stewart

Shoes: Laboutin

Alrewas Hayes Wedding Photographer / Winter Weddings